Actress Phyllida Law, the mother of Dame Emma Thompson, has died aged 94. Her granddaughter Gaia Wise, daughter of Dame Emma and her husband Greg Wise, confirmed the news by sharing a photo of Law on Instagram with the caption: “Rest well my queen.”
Family and career
Law’s management said in a statement that she “died supremely peacefully at home, surrounded by all of her family” on July 27. The actress was married to actor Eric Thompson from 1957 until his death from a heart attack in 1982, aged 53. Their daughters, Dame Emma and Sophie Thompson, are both actresses.
Law appeared on screen alongside her daughters several times, including in the 1996 adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma. In the film – which starred Gwyneth Paltrow – Law played Mrs Bates while Sophie played her daughter Miss Bates.
Notable roles
She also appeared alongside Dame Emma in 1992’s Peter’s Friends, directed by her daughter’s then-husband Sir Kenneth Branagh. Law also appeared in Sir Kenneth’s adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing the following year, also alongside Dame Emma. In 1997 Law again appeared alongside her eldest daughter in Alan Rickman’s directorial debut The Winter Guest, in which the pair played mother and daughter. More than a decade later she also had a voice role in Dame Emma’s 2005 film Nanny McPhee, which she wrote and starred in.
Born in Glasgow in 1932, Law initially had aspirations to become a stage designer – but ended up studying acting at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
Television and stage
Throughout her career, Law appeared in television programmes including Play School, The Unpleasantness At The Bellona Club, Midsomer Murders, Monarch Of The Glen, Rosemary & Thyme, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Foyle’s War, Doc Martin, Midsomer Murders and New Tricks. She also featured in films including Much Ado About Nothing, Emma, Anna Karenina, The Winter Guest, Saving Grace, Nanny McPhee, and Miss Potter.
On stage Law appeared alongside Alec Guinness in John Mortimer’s A Voyage Round My Father at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in 1971 and in Alan Bennett’s Habeas Corpus at the Oxford Playhouse in 1973, which then transferred to the West End. The actress also appeared in the original London cast of La Cage Aux Folles at the London Palladium in 1986, playing the role of Jacqueline. Law was made an OBE for services to drama and charitable causes in 2014.
